Pumpkin is an unusually tasty and healthy vegetable. Mexico is considered its homeland, where it grew in ancient times. In Russia, they began to grow it in the 16th century. Since then, pumpkin has enjoyed immense popularity. You can cook many dishes from it and it turns out very tasty when baked in the oven.
Pumpkin is a low-calorie and very healthy vegetable. Its energy value is only 22 Kcal per 100 g of product. Pumpkin can be eaten fresh, added to puddings, pies, and thick mashed soups based on it, but baked pumpkin dishes are always popular. There are many recipes for cooking this vegetable.
Sweet pumpkin, baked in large pieces
You can bake pumpkin in the oven in large slices or chunks without using any fillers. The dish turns out to be very tasty, aromatic and great for a children's menu. To prepare it, you will need:
- butternut pumpkin - 1-1.5 kg;
- sugar - 5-6 tablespoons;
- butter - 50-70 g;
- milk or cream for serving.
Butternut pumpkin varieties are ideal for this recipe. They are high in sugar. Most butternut squash has a dense texture, which has a positive effect on the taste of the finished dish.
Wash a small pear-shaped or round-shaped butternut squash well, cut in half and remove the pulp with seeds. Cut each half into 3-4 more pieces. You do not need to cut off the peel. Place the slices, skin side down, on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake the slices in the oven at 200 ° C for about 20 minutes.
Melt butter of good quality (not margarine) in a water bath. You can also melt it in the microwave, which is much faster and more convenient, but it is important to keep the food from boiling. Open the oven, sprinkle the pumpkin with granulated sugar and pour butter over it, then continue baking, but at 180 ° C for about 40-50 minutes.
Serve the finished dish on portioned plates with milk or cream. You can sprinkle the pumpkin with cinnamon when serving.
Pumpkin baked in lemon caramel
Pumpkin in lemon caramel is an original dessert that tastes like marmalade. However, it is extremely useful. For its preparation you will need;
- 1 kg pumpkin;
- 3 tbsp. l sugar;
- some cinnamon;
- 3 small lemons;
- honey to taste.
You can choose any pumpkin for this recipe, since caramel improves the taste of even a not very sweet fruit. Before baking, peel it, cut it gently and remove the seeds and pulp. Cut into pieces and then with a sharp knife into small cubes. Put the pumpkin cubes on a baking sheet covered with foil, sprinkle with sugar and bake. Optimal mode: at 180 ° C for about 20 minutes.
Remove the zest from the lemon with a special grater, and then squeeze out the juice. Sprinkle the pumpkin cubes with zest and cinnamon, sprinkle with lemon juice, shake a little and send back to the oven. Bake at 180 ° C for about 30 minutes. This dish should be eaten slightly cooled. The caramel hardens a little and the pumpkin pieces look like marmalade.
Sweet pumpkin in pots
Pumpkin baked in ceramic pots turns out to be very soft and tender, and raisins, dried apricots, walnuts give the dessert a unique taste. To prepare the dish you will need:
small pumpkin (weight about 1 kg);
- 50 g of raisins (preferably small ones);
- 50 g prunes;
- 50 g dried apricots;
- some walnuts;
- half a teaspoon of cinnamon;
- 50 g of candied honey.
It is better to choose sweet pumpkin for baking in pots. Peel it, remove the pulp with seeds, cut into cubes. Rinse raisins, dried apricots, prunes very well, soak in water for 15 minutes. During this time, the dried fruits will swell. Cut dried apricots and prunes with a knife.
Grease portioned clay pots from the inside with honey. Put in them pumpkin cubes, raisins, chopped dried fruits. Add chopped walnuts and a little cinnamon. You don't need to add sugar, as the dish may turn out to be too sweet. You can add 4-5 tablespoons of water to each serving container.
Cover the pots with lids, put them on the wire rack in the oven. To prevent the bottom of the dish from burning, you can put the baking sheet in the oven just below the wire rack and pour some water into it. Bake the pots at 180 ° C for about 30 minutes. Serve the dish as a sweet dessert right in the portion pots.
Whole baked pumpkin
Whole baked pumpkin is one of the most original dishes. It can decorate a festive table and really surprise guests. To prepare it you will need:
- medium-sized pumpkin (about 4 kg);
- beef - 500 g;
- potatoes - 1 kg;
- champignons - 500 g;
- sour cream - 100-150 g;
- cheese - 200-250 g;
- 3 small onions;
- some salt;
- some black pepper;
- vegetable oil for frying.
It is better to choose a pumpkin round and of the correct shape, without any damage. Rinse it well, cut off the top and remove all the pulp and seeds with a spoon. The top should not be cut too low. The main thing is that the baked dish is convenient to take out of the finished pumpkin with a spoon.
Cut the meat into small slices, add a little salt and fry in vegetable oil for about 5 minutes, and then put on a plate. In the same oil, fry the onion in thin half rings with mushrooms. The champignons must first be washed and cleaned. Peel and cut the potatoes into large cubes, season with salt and pepper.
At the bottom of the pumpkin, put half of the fried meat, and then in layers a little potatoes, mushrooms and onions, again meat and potatoes. The last layer should be potato so that you can check the readiness of the dish. Put a bay leaf, ground black pepper and pour warm water, but not completely. The water should not reach the lid by about 4 cm. Pour sour cream on top, cover the lid and bake at 200 ° C for about 1 hour. If the pumpkin is very large, you can add a little water to the baking sheet. The readiness of the dish is determined by the softening of the potatoes. When it becomes soft, you need to open the lid, pour out the grated cheese and bake for another 10 minutes at a temperature of 180 ° C.
Ready stuffed pumpkin is served hot on a large platter.
Baked pumpkin with garlic and coriander
Pumpkin can be baked with herbs and garlic. This dish has a spicy taste and can be served as an addition to meat. To prepare it you need:
- 1 kg pumpkin (small whole or a slice);
- 1 tbsp. l lemon juice;
- 4-5 cloves of garlic;
- 3-5 tbsp. tablespoons of good quality olive oil;
- a little salt and ground black pepper;
- 1 tsp coriander seeds;
- half a bunch of fresh parsley.
Cut the pumpkin and remove the inner soft part, seeds, and then cut it into slices. For this recipe, you can choose fruits that are not very sweet.
In a separate bowl or deep plate, mix together cold-pressed olive oil, salt, chopped parsley. Peel the garlic cloves, pass through a press and place in a bowl. Also add coriander seeds, but for this they must first be ground in a mill or grind in a mortar. Freshly ground spices have a more pronounced aroma and taste. Mix all ingredients very well.
Put foil on a baking sheet or in a refractory dish and put pumpkin slices on it, coat thoroughly with a spice-oil mixture, cover with foil and bake at 180 ° C for about 30 minutes. Open the door and check that the pumpkin is done by piercing one of the slices with a toothpick. If the dish becomes soft, open the foil and cook at 200 ° C for about 10 minutes.
This recipe involves the use of other types of greens. Pumpkin with coriander, garlic and rosemary sprigs turns out to be very tasty.
Oven baked pumpkin with apples and quince
An original dessert can be made with pumpkin, quince and apples. This will require:
- pumpkin is very sweet - 1 kg;
- 2-3 sweet and sour or sweet apples;
- 2 quince fruits;
- 3 tbsp sugar;
- 1 tsp cinnamon;
- 100 g of walnuts;
- liquid honey to taste.
Cut the pumpkin, remove all seeds and pulp, and then cut it first into slices, then into small rectangles or slices. It is imperative to cut off the peel from the fruit.
Peel the apples, cut the centers and cut each fruit into 6-8 pieces. Peel the quince and cut into large slices. Cover the pumpkin with sugar and let it stand for 5 minutes.
Put pumpkin and fruit in a fireproof tray, sprinkle with additional sugar and sprinkle with a little cinnamon. Chop the walnut in any way. You can cut it with a knife or place it in a blender for finer crumbs. Put the chopped nuts in a tray and mix everything well.
Bake the dessert at 180 ° C for about 30 minutes. When serving, arrange in bowls and pour over with liquid honey. This dish can be a good addition to ice cream.
Baked stuffed pumpkin boats
To surprise guests with an unusually tasty and effective dish, you can stuff the pumpkin with chicken, rice and vegetables. To prepare pumpkin boats you will need:
- pear-shaped nutmeg pumpkin (1-1, 5 kg);
- half a glass of rice (preferably parboiled or long grain);
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- a little salt;
- 2 chicken breasts;
- 1 bell pepper;
- onion;
- half a bunch of greens;
- 150-170 g of cheese.
Rinse the pear-shaped pumpkin well, carefully cut off the tail just below its base, cut in half. Any small oblong pumpkin will work for this recipe, but it's better to use nutmeg. Remove the pulp and seeds, and carefully cut the hard part with a knife and scrape out with a spoon. The side parts should be no thicker than 1, 5-2 cm. Cut the cut out hard part into cubes.
Cut the Bulgarian pepper into small cubes, after cutting off the top and removing the seeds. Chop the onion and herbs. Better to use a mixture of dill and parsley. Cut into cubes and chicken fillet. Boil rice in any convenient way, but until half cooked.
Fry the chicken breast and simmer for 5-7 minutes, put on a plate. In the same pan, you can sauté the onion for 2 minutes, then add pepper, squeeze the garlic cloves through a press, add pumpkin cubes, a little salt and simmer for 10 minutes without closing the lid. Add chicken fillet, chopped herbs, boiled rice, mix everything well and simmer for another 2-3 minutes.
Cool the stuffing mixture quite a bit, then fill the boats of the halves of the pumpkin with it. Bake such a dish at 180 ° C for about 20 minutes, and then open the oven, sprinkle the boats with grated cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.
The set of stuffing products in this recipe can be slightly changed in accordance with your taste preferences. For example, instead of chicken breasts, it is permissible to use pork or minced meat. The vegetable component can be supplemented with eggplant. carrots.
Serve the original boats to the table hot on a large platter. Sprinkle them with chopped herbs before serving, or garnish with parsley sprigs.
